HotPads Daily :: The Official Blog of HotPads.com

HotPads Intro Video by TurnHere

Some of you who were at the Inman Conference in San Francisco might recall the presentation by TurnHere, an online video production, advertising, and production company.  They generously offered to provide a complimentary video introduction for real estate companies and we took them up on their offer.  

We were extremely impressed by the professionalism of both the camera man who came to the office for the recording and the production quality of the video.  Check out our brief introductory video starring Matthew Corgan, our President and CEO.

New Feature: Photo Reordering

You asked for it and now we've added it: Photo Reordering!  

When you create your listing on HotPads, now you can easily select which photo you would like to serve as your primary listing photo, as well as select the order in which the photos appear.

To reorder the photos, simply

• Click on the photo you would like to move
• Drag it to the desired position
• Drop your image in line

It's as easy as that!

We've said it before and we'll say it again: we welcome any and all of your suggestions, comments, and tips. We thrive on your feedback so, please email us at info@hotpads.com if you have any features you would like to see!

psst... Follow us on Twitter!

See Your Hotpads Search Results in Google Earth

HotPads is dedicated to providing our users as much information as possible when they are searching for their next place.  With that in mind, we have added helpful points of interest, heat maps, Google StreetView, and loads of other useful search features.  Today, we have added another great search option: Google Earth!

Google Earth allows you to see the terrain, satellite imagery, 3D buildings, and much more around the world.  And now, you can also see your HotPads search results in Google Earth as well!

To see your housing search appear in Google Earth, click the Google Earth logo in the map header:

This will produce a KML file of all of our highest priority listings in the area, which you can export to Google Earth by clicking "run."

In Google Earth, you can see the HotPads listings displayed along side all of the great data that Google Earth has to offer!

Once you've found a place that looks promising, just click on the link to get more information! 

If you do not yet have Google Earth, you can download it here free.

psst... Follow us on Twitter!

 

HotPads Co-Founder on NewsTalk 104.7

HotPads Co-Founder, Matthew Corgan, was on WPGB 104.7's radio program, America's Morning Show with Quinn and Rose earlier this week. Filling in for Quinn and Rose was host Glen Meakam.

Matt discussed the real estate market and the housing industry, as well as shared the motivations behind HotPads.com.  

Check it out below if you haven't had a chance to listen yet!

 

Listen to the Interview

Friday Funday: The Holiday Edition

This has just about nothing to do with real estate, but it is a house and it's still unbelievably impressive.
 

(For more, see these "17 Jaw-Dropping Christmas Light Shows")

Sure beats our little HotPads T-ree:

Thanks to EKDAY for tweeting this.  See what good comes from following people on Twitter?  Follow HotPads on Twitter. 

Mud, Blood, and Snakes?

A few of us here at HotPads have signed up to run the Army Ten-Miler in a few weeks. It is a fundraiser for Soldiers and their Families here in DC.  We have had a pretty good showings at other events including accidentally winning a walkathon last October because we thought it was a race.

So, I have started to get back into running shape in order to not embarrass myself.  As of last night, my training is on an indefinite hold after three consecutive days of escalating trauma to self. 

Here is my brief tale of woe:

1)  This past Saturday I decided to go for a run during Hurricane Hanna, so I guess I was asking for trouble.  But no, I was not washed away with a flash flood or hit with large debris, it was a fairly tame storm other than lots of rain.  I was running on Georgetown's campus when I a group of wet and muddy students spotted me.  They all turned on me pointing and chanting "Do It" "Do It"... I had no idea what was going on and then I saw the slip and slide, with flashes of Freshman year stunts flashing in my brain...and facing that kind of pressure, I guess I had no other choice than to hit that slip and slide as fast as a could travelling 20 feet past the end of the slide on the flooded quad, knocking the wind out of my lungs, swallowing rain and mud, and of course getting up and giving a victorious fist pump to the throng before heading on my way.

2) HotPads' office is in the heart of Georgetown right on the C&O Canal.  You can go out our door and run for 180 miles without hitting a road but it is also half a block from the corner of M and Wisconsin which is the epicenter of all the shops and restaurants.  On Sunday, I went on a 12.5 mile run... its been a while since I have gone this type of distance and forgot some of the affects it can have on the body, particulary soft tissue.  3/4 of the way through I knew I was doomed... my nipples had been rubbed raw by my swish swashing shirt, and had begun to bleed.  It was not long before I looked like the victim of a gangland style hit...perfectly symmetrical though.  Its not bad when you are running.  I passed people fast enough they could not figure out what happened.  But after the run, as I walked amongst the Sunday shoppers, diners, and tourists... I saw face after face of disgust, bewilderment, anxiousness, and distress.

3)  On Monday evening after work I set off for a 4 miler on the Canal again. I was decidedly not going to experience what I had on Sunday, so I ran with my shirt off.  Astonishingly I saw many of the same facial expressions due to this decision.  As I ran it became pretty dark and I could not see the path all that well.  All of a sudden a snake jumped and wrapped itself around my right leg and I had to kick it off.  I must have stepped on its tail causing this reaction...but, from my perspective I was attacked!  To actually feel the slithery scales on my skin was too much.  I may have screamed...  (I did).  Finishing out my run I jumped at the sight of every shady, rock, and twig.  I will never be the same person again. 

Hope this was not too long, I just had to get this off my chest.   

Georgetown U. Grads invade HotPads for User Tests

In our continuing effort to bring you the best real estate search engine on the planet, HotPads recently invited a slew of recent graduates from Georgetown University to evaluate recent changes to our site and suggest improvements.  (They held nothing back.)

For the low, low cost of pizza and canned beverages of an unnamed variety, the Hoyas looked at the current features and functionality of HotPads through a series of required tasks, then prepared worksheets with their comments and tips.

HotPads has close ties to the university, with our offices now located in the neighborhood and having two alums on the payroll.  (Fans of other Big East schools are still allowed to look for homes for sale or rent in Syracuse or Providence.)

Most Ridiculous Coffee Gadget Ever

Our addiction to coffee is well-documented, and it has not gotten any better since we moved into our new office.  (We should have known that having a Starbucks in the lobby would be just as bad as having an intravenous drip installed.)

But we have to draw the line somewhere.  And that line is drawn where the Heart Beans coffee grinder begins.  This contraption, held like a baby next to your chest, grinds coffee beans to the tune of your ticker.  Luckily it's just a concept, or Doug Lewis might actually buy one.

In the meantime, we'll let the Pike's Place boys provide the fuel for the best apartment search on the web.

Thanks, Gizmodo.

Profiles in Courage: The Drought of 2008

We've taken so many things for granted here at HotPads, nonchalantly listing hundreds of thousands of homes for sale on our innovative map-based search.  That was until now, when a disruption in our bottled water delivery service threatened the once free-flowing supply of coffee that fuels HotPads.com.

As a result, members of the HotPads staff have resorted to the most extreme measures to stay awake and keep the site running.  A few have taken to making coffee with Washington DC's notorious lead-based water.  Others routinely make the grueling two-block walk to Java House.

There have even been reports of people drinking Dr. Pepper, but such fanciful accounts must be dismissed out of hand.

Due to the lack of press coverage (what other reason could there be?) there's been no outpouring of support from the government, NGO's or Oprah.  In the meantime, we'll keep up a brave front and keep bringing America the real estate listings it deserves.

HotPads Launches For Sale Listings

HotPads.com went live two years ago this past Saturday.  To celebrate, we wanted to do something big.  So, today we launched into the For Sale market.  We are launching with over 200,000 real estate listings from our current real estate professional partners.

Over the past two years we have helped countless rental housing shoppers find their next home.  We are excited to now do the same thing for those that are looking to purchase a new home.

Just like rental housing, HotPads' For Sale listings are completely free and anyone can create them.  For those users with a lot of listings, you can have your webmaster create a listing data feed following these instructions:  Listing Data Feed Instructions . Or you could just send us an email at info@hotpads.com .

More information about HotPads launch into the For Sale market can be found in our press release .

I hope everyone has a chance to check out our For Sale listings.  Here are a few quick links to some of the largest markets:

New York City, Washington DC, San Francisco, San Jose, Phoenix, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Seattle, and Dallas

Internet Software Engineers Needed!

We are looking to bring on a few more engineers...but we are having trouble finding candidates!  If you are a computer engineer...or you know someone that is, and are interested in learning more about HotPads please let us know!

Here is a short job posting:

We're looking for people who understand the fundamentals of the Internet and Java, and who want to quickly become experts in both. We work on many small projects at a time and release new features frequently. Immediately, you'll start working with experienced developers and contribute to features that might be released days later.

If you're interested in mastering many or all of these technologies, HotPads is a great place to do it:

Linux, Java, DNS, MySQL, Hibernate, Tomcat and Resin, Spring, Spring MVC, Lucene, Amazon's S3 and EC2, ArcGIS, JavaScript, DWR and Google Web Toolkit, HTML, CSS, XML, Flash, Flex and AJAX technologies

We work hard but have a lot of fun.  If you are interested, please email Matt Corgan at mcorgan@hotpads.com . We look forward to hearing from you!

Don't we look friendly?  (Except Doug Lewis in the middle...)

Trulia Raises $10 Million

Trulia announced yesterday that they closed a $10 million Series C round with Sequoia Capital (one of the most well respected VC firms).

I have added this to the Real Estate Technology Timeline.  You can see many of the venture capital deals in the online real estate search space by typing "venture" in the filter box on the bottom (also they all have green buttons rather than blue).

Some of the companies that have brought in venture capital in the last few years are:

Oodle: ~$16 million
Trulia: ~$18 million
Zillow: ~$57 million
MyNewPlace: ~$20 million
Redfin: ~$9.25 million
HotPads: ~$2.3 million

It is really interesting to watch all of the activity in the real estate search space.

If anyone has any additions or corrections to these numbers or anything on the timeline, please email us at timeline@hotpads.com .  (Congratulations to the Trulia team!)

HotPads in the Wall Street Journal

HotPads was in the Wall Street Journal today.  We thought about playing it cool, you know, no big deal.  But who are we trying to kid, this is pretty exciting for us.  If you care to read the article, here is a link (subscription req'd): link.

Team HotPads Photo OP

We welcomed a new member of the team last week, David Peters.  We held a welcome BBQ and ate lots of spicy sausages.  Below is the only picture of the current team here at HotPads, so I thought I would post it.  The BBQ was hosted by Doug Lewis...at an Archstone Smith property in fact (nice BBQ area!). 

Dora kind of looks like she is stuffed...but she isn't.  (Tim too...)

Matt told me he is opposed to me posting my Paint Art below...

High Pressure Home Shopping

Have you ever been released from a secret Chinese torture prison only to be given over to nuclear bomb wielding terrorists...having to escape said terrorists by biting the jugular of one of your captors?  And then learn that both your brother and father were involved in the assisination of the President a few years ago and are currently involved with the nuclear terrorism of your previous captors....and you didn't learn this by word of mouth or the newspaper, but by almost suffocating your brother to death with a plastic bag?

And then, in the middle of all of this, did you try to find an apartment in L.A. that is a bit cheaper and at a safe distance from a nuclear blast zone? 

Yes?  Then you are HotPads' newest celebrity user, Jack Bauer.  The membership email below was bounced back to HotPads on Friday.  I always thought CTU would have a .gov or .mil address.

More action this evening...9/8c on Fox.

Oodle Raises an additional $11 million

Oodle just announced that it raised a tidy sum ($11 million) from JAFCO Ventures, Greylock Partners, and RedPoint Ventures.

I just put this on the Real Estate Technology Timeline.  Remember to email timeline@hotpads.com if you have any updates.  You can find both technology and business developments on the timeline...so be sure to check it out!  (just a reminder...)

"I'm blogging right now, take a message."

Oh when did I start to identify with humor like this?  Between InmanNews reporting that I was the "chief bloggernaut" here at HotPads, ending every conversation with "I'm definitely gonna blog this," and laughing hysterically at this video, I'm beginning to worry about myself.  Anyway, watch this video from Sellsius.

I wasn't always like this, I swear

There's a new Dog in Town

  I am starting to have a bone to pick with this Blue-eyed princess named Dora. It’s pretty clear that you think you are quite the hot dog around here, but I am afraid you have pawed your last code. One more mistake Dora, including any accidents on the carpet, and your job will be mine.
    I have seen your act before and its become real droolish as of late: sitting like a parrot on John Fitzpatrick’s shoulder (Just give me a chance John, I only weigh 57 lbs), Showing loyalty by only sitting on Doug Lewis’s lap (Just give me a chance Doug, I promise you won’t need a cup).
If my Hollydogwood looks don’t win this Hotpads team over, my resume sure will:

 Name: Bozzley, English Bulldog, 21 in Dog years

Accomplishments: 2006 Barker’s beauties runner up
(No shame in my game, you should have seen that poodle)
                            2005 Fresh Breath Championship: honorable mention

 Activities: I can code in my sleep, I eat pedigree dog food(for large dogs), and modeling(obviously)

If you have any questions, my website is www.yourdaysarenumberedDORA.com

Putting in some overtime at HotPads

We are working hard here at HotPads to improve our rental housing search functionality.  Everyone is putting in some OT including the boss, Princess Dora.

Dora has to crack the whip from time to time...

Luckily, Dora is fairly cheap labor, working for belly rubs and dehydrated pork tendons...(the tendons make the office stink like a veterinary).

A Rose By Any Other Name...(Part 2)

Last July, I talked a bit about the trials and tribulations of picking the name HotPads.com.  Yes, it took 5 months.  Yes, we spent a month calling ourselves RenterCenter before realizing that name was taken...and ugly.

While we waxed and waned over a domain name, we had to choose a corporate name in order to officially start the company (May of '05).  Tired from trying to think of the perfect domain name, we quickly decided our corporate name would be Multi-Family Media, Inc.

There are two problems with this name:

1) HotPads does a lot more than apartment communities.  We also do houses, condos, townhouses, sublets, find-a-roommate, etc.

2) Multi-Family is actually a misspelling of Multifamily.  (We are still a bit unsure of the correct spelling, sometimes it is spelled Multi Family.  Either way, it is embarrassing to think that there is a misspelling in your name.  How would my life have been different if my parents named me Duglas?)

So, today, we are putting this tragic chapter of our company's existence to rest.  Today, we are reincorporating the company under the name HotPads, Inc.

Buy HotPads Stuff!

Well, on July 24th, I wrote a distressed call for help from our audience(which, at the time, included 9 people... all of whom were related to me) asking for help in designing some HotPads apparel. Well, I  have finally gotten around to actually making some HotPads gear that is now available to the public. 

To give you some ideas as to what you might want to buy for yourself or your loved ones, let me tell you what I am getting for my friends, family, and co-workers...

Team HotPads,

I got everyone a mouse pad because I am sick of using a magazine.

 

Doug Lewis,
I bought you this coffee mug so you can get your fill of caffeine in style.

Johnny,
I got you this stamp so you can mail stuff.  I heard that postage is going up, so I guess I should have bought you more than 1.  Oh well.

Doug Pope,
I bought you this muscle shirt to wear when you go to the gym (twice a day).  It's silver, which I think is really neat!

 

George,
I got you this stein to drink from when writing blog posts.

Tim,
I got you these postcards to send to your family in Buffalo since there's always too much snow for you to actually go see them. 

My New Nissan Xterra,
I got you a bumper sticker --  I promise that this is the only sticker that is going to come anywhere near you, my beautiful machine.

Mom,
I got you this great tote bag so you can carry an absurd amount of stuff while repping HotPads.

Dad,
All I got you was this stupid tie.  I know you have lots of them, but this one is different, see?  It's got the HotPads logo on it.  Anyways, I hope you like it... I made it myself.  You're just so hard to shop for.  I'll get you something better for Christmas, I promise.

 

Matt, Kevin, and Everybody Else

I got you this HotPads t-shirt.  It's really comfortable & looks great and I think you might actually wear it. 

HotPads has the perfect gift for any ocassion: Birthdays, Holidays, Anniversaries ... you name it! 

There's a lot more HotPads paraphanalia available, so check out our store!

 

3 Useful Tools for Enhancing Your Website

We have employed countless resources,aids, and tools to assist us in developing HotPads and our blog, HotPads Daily.  I have noticed that, while we share in the use of many of these applications, each person has acquired personal favorites, things that they rely on and use daily.  Sometimes, people develop such an infatuation with one thing or another that it would be seemingly impossible to go through an entire day without it.  There's Doug Pope and his obsession with gmail, Doug Lewis and his coffee addiction, and Tim's love for Flash (and ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit.)  Well, I feel the need to highlight the 3 resources that I have grown to adore and have relied on create more aesthetically pleasing pages with visual content: HyperSnap 6, Camtasia Studio 4, and Color Schemer Studio.

HyperSnap 6

HyperSnap is a screen and text capture tool.  I have used many other capture tools before, as I have always found another one to try out after my trial period ended.  However, I have developed a near obsession with this one for a couple of reasons. 

First, you can capture full screens, active windows, regions, and shapes like on all the other ones, but you can also capture an entire window with scroll.  That means that you can get one continuous image of the entire webpage, as it automatically scrolls down to capture the full content.  Second, it provides a great image editor that I find to be easier to use and more comprehensive than most. 

For anyone using images, screen shots, or photos: I would definately recommend giving this a shot.  It will make your life so much easier.  Cost $35

Camtasia Studio 4
I use this application to create the video guides and tutorials and tutorials that help demonstrate various features and functions of HotPads.  This was an area that I really was unknowledgable in, so I went to the web and researched various different screen recording softwares.  With the list of the most recommended applications, I simply downloaded trial versions of about 5 of them and decided that Camtasia offered the most complete and easy-to-use service. 

You can record, edit, and share the videos you make pretty easily with this tool.  The only problem I have found is that it isn't a miracle worker... and if you aren't very good at being creative, it won't necessarily do it for you.  However, with time, I feel my videos are getting better and Camtasia truly offers a great product.  Cost: $299 for 1 person

ColorSchemer

Speaking of my lack of creativity, I use ColorSchemer when I want to create things that don't scare little children.  Maybe you are one of those people who just know how to make something visually appealing... I am not.  My art teacher in high school used to let me run around the gym instead of doing a project and, in college, my drawing 101 professor once told me that "art wasn't for anyone, but that I sure tried."  In fact, it was my art professor who introduced me to ColorSchemer.

If you are feeling completely uncreative/lazy, they offer ready-made color schemes that designate various colors that go nicely together, so all you have to do is pick one.  If you have some ideas of colors, or even one color in particular that you want to use, they also provide a color matching studio.  This is available online for free or you can download a more complete (complicated) version.  I have found that this is an invaluable tool for anyone who is creating a website or webpage, not to mention any publications.   

So now you know what my favorite programs are and I hope that you might find one of them useful too.  If you have any questions or suggestions for other programs or sites, drop me a line!

Related Posts:

• Gmail can now be used for work
• Gmail Goes More Web 2.0
• Too Much Coffee...

 

HotPads Hits 25,000 Rental Listings... World: meet Princess Dora

When starting a company, it is important to set goals and milestones.  It is also important to set-up a reward system that incentivizes the team to reach these goals.

At the time of HotPads' launch, November 2005, we had 12 listings on the site.  We decided we wanted to build HotPads into the most comprehensive rental housing search site available, both in listing content and neighborhood information.  One goal we set out was to reach 50,000 active listings, a sizable goal at the time.  The reward?  HotPads would get an office dog.

Today, HotPads reached 25,000 active rental listings for the first time.  This quanity surpasses that of all of our premium listing competitors, which is a milestone in and of itself. 

So, to celebrate reaching the halfway point on our listing goal... HotPads got half a dog. 

World, meet Princess Dora, a 13 pound pug...who makes the office a lot more fun and sometimes a bit more stinky.  Dora likes beef jerky, eating paper, and never being alone.  She grunts and looks like an Ewok.  She resides with Doug Lewis, so she is only in the office during the day.

We like Dora.  A big Thanks to all of HotPads' property managers, brokers, agents , and home owners for making our half a dog possible!

A Brief History of HotPads.com

Today, I sent an email with a few of the highlights of our first year online...and I thought..."hey...put that on the blog." 

· Nov. 2005 – Launched free map-based rental housing search engine and listing service. Link to DC Search

· Early 2006 – Built active listings from 12 to over 20,000 by August

· Sept. 2006 – Launched neighborhood search with demographic data and Wikipedia integration.  Link to Seattle Info

· Oct. 2006 – Launched 2006 Election Edition, allowing users to research the November Congressional elections, and search for housing based on political party affiliation. South Florida Congressional Districts  

· Nov. 2006 – Launched demographic heat maps for entire country.   San Francisco Heat Map

So I did.

HotPads: Our Life on the C-List

As I was catching up on my industry reading today after an (admittedly) long vacation, a post on the Future of Real Estate Marketing called "A-List or B-List?" caught my eye.  Apparently, Kineda  has introduced a convenient widget that tells you exactly how (un)cool you are...or, more specifically, how popular your blog is.  They judge your blog's celebrity status by looking at your Technorati rankings.

So, how does HotPads stack up?

Well, let's put it this way...

If Paris Hilton (warning: links to the top 10 Paris fan sites) is an "A-List" celebrity, then the HotPads blog could be considered... Anna Nicole Smith. And I'm not talking Anna Nicole Smith from her pin-up girl days...  I'm not even talking about the Anna from the post-"Trim Spa" diet.   No, I'm saying that HotPads is Anna Nicole during the nice period in between when she was the leading trainwreck on reality TV, staring in the aptly named The Anna Nicole Show (buy the first season here!)

Yes, we are officially a C-List Blog...

Hey, before you laugh, try it out yourself.  You might be surprised by how sites stack up.

But alas, try not to take your blog's celebrity status to heart.  It's just a silly widget anyway, right?

Well, we here at HotPads are just going to continuously chant (in the words of Rodney Dangerfield in LadyBugs) 

I'm great, I'm wonderful, everybody likes me. 

Too much coffee...

As the official "Coffee Cow" of the Hotpads Team, I feel it is my responsibility to inform the general blogging public about some new information that has come to my attention.  According to a study by researchers at the University of Queensland, under the influence of caffeine, you are more easily swayed  by arguments.

In the experiments, the participants were made to drink an orange juice, some with caffeine in it, some without.  Presented with a persuasive message the attitudes of the participants were measured. It was found that the attitudes of participants under caffeine had changed more than that of the control participants. 

As the biggest coffee drinker here, this makes me wonder what I have been... persuaded to add to the site under the influence of coffee (perhaps some of the stranger color schemes?). Considering the search technology of Hotpads is built upon a (extremely) large foundation of coffee and espresso, this information could be used to explain some of the ... quirkier parts of Hotpads.  As you can see in the picture on the right, large doses of caffeine can sometimes have interesting effects.  Maybe I should scale back... yet according to the study, caffeine also lets you better see the strengths of good arguments.  Maybe wacky color schemes have some good reasoning behind them... maybe you can find apartments easier via the contrasting colors? Or maybe I am analyzing this way too much.          

Happy Birthday HotPads!

HotPads.com turned one year old today.  Last year at this time we had dark circles under our eyes....and 6 listings on the site.  Since then the dark circles have become permanent facial features....and our listings have grown to over 20,000 apartments, condos, and rental houses.

What are we doing to celebrate?  We bought office chairs.  After a year and a half of sitting on wooden dining room chairs, we splurged and bought "Lane Micro-Fiber Manager Chairs" with "Ergo-Contoured lumbar support."  Finally, OSHA will get off our backs!

There is already a buzz in the office about next year's anniversary.  Will we get desks? 

Thanks for everyone' support during this past year.  We have had a great deal of fun building HotPads.  We are looking forward to the upcoming year.  Hopefully we can continue to make housing search easier and home listings more effective. 

P.S.  Gifts can be sent to:

HotPads.com
P.O. Box 53104
Washington, DC  20009

HotPads--Fashion's latest designer!

While HotPads has always been the place to find your place, soon it will be the place to find your  WARDROBE too!?  Due to the numerous requests we've gotten for HotPads material, we have decided to begin selling things through our site. Our talented team of designers is hard at work creating the new line of t-shirts that will be available to the public and are sure to be all the rage.  Granted, before HotPads mania can sweep the fashion nation, we have to actually make the shirts. 

Here's the problem: I lied, our "talented team of designers" isn't exactly talented...or really designers... or actually even a team (if a team implies more than just me). So, all you fashion-conscious, creative, or just plain funny HotPaders- now is the time to awaken your inner fashionista! 

This is a challenge, a competition, a battle for t-shirt dominance... aka a CONTEST.  We want your ideas for the message, design, and style of  the new HotPads t-shirts- they can be humorous, cocky, straightforward, or any other adjective of your choice.  We will judge each design based on these criteria: a) that we like it, b) that people will want to wear it , and c) that it will effectively promote HotPads. The person who submits the selected entry will win three (3) of the HotPads shirts that bear their design, as evidence of the fulfilment of their latent desire for style stardom.

Please submit all entries to me at CCorgan@hotpads.com

- tip: make sure to include our logo-

An "A" For Effort

When starting a company, excitement and energy are bountiful.  This creates the opportunity to get a lot done in a short amount of time. It is during the first three months of operations that we made the largest strides, developing a plan to build a comprehensive, user-friendly rental housing search engine and listing service.

While this energy is a large reason it is so rewarding to work for a start-up, it can often get misdirected.

The current Heat Wave we are experiencing in DC reminds me of one of HotPads' largest boondoggles.  In an effort to create a comprehensive database of rental housing to launch the site with, we decided we should take a picture of every rental property in DC.

Mainly on the weekends, we enlisted friends, parents, siblings, and unsuspecting computer engineers to schlep around the city  taking pictures of every single rental house, garden apartment, apartment community, and many...MANY homes that probably have never donned the"For Rent" sign in the window.

We spent the two hottest months of the year working in this fashion.  It was hot.  REALLY REALLY HOT. We walked down each street with a clipboard and camera.  If the homeowner was working in the yard as we snapped a pic, they would inevitable scowl and confront us about our activities.  I don't blame them, if I saw a bunch of sweaty sunburned people taking a picture of my house, I would want a question or two answered.  There were a lot of uncomfortable conversations.

After completing about 20% of the city, we said to ourselves, "WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!?"  We finally came to our senses, we were torturing ourselves over something that really does not add much value to the site. There was no way to scale what were doing in DC to other markets and there was no reason to.  Housing shoppers not only want a picture and location of available housing....but they need availability, price, and amenities.

Everything was not lost, we learned a great deal during the process, for instance, the need to develop a truly efficient means of gathering content on a large scale.  Plus, we had plenty of pictures and addresses to plug into our prototype to test our software...and we all lost about ten pounds.

I have attached a map of all the properties we didn't get to in DC if anyone has some spare time on their hands.

Domers in the News?

We appreciate the shout out HotPads received from our alma mater in Notre Dame Magazine.  In a liberal use of the term "news," Matt, Doug, Tim, and I were mentioned in the "Domers in the News" section.  Good for HotPads . . . Bad for news!

Thanks Notre Dame Magazine!

A Rose By Any Other Name

A lot of people ask, "What has been the hardest part about starting a company?" Sometimes, visions of early software development flash before my eyes or the excruciatingly long process of raising capital.

But in the end, I have to go back to the five months it took us to pick a name for the website.

It seems like a fairly easy thing to do, pick a name for a website, but its not.

We wanted to pick something that was memorable, fun, related to real estate…and AVAILABLE. This was a very difficult combination of attributes and our brainstorming often got side-tracked. Here are some examples of hundreds from a May 2005 email:

IntelliRent, PadPod, Apartmentals, CoyoteRentals, Hiddenunits, Apartnation, Rentbug, Popcornrentals, ApartMint, ConglomeRent, RentTarget, HoodPicker, and RenterCenter.

(I think IntelliRent was my idea. It still holds a special place in my heart.)

Our consensus changed on a weekly basis.

After a great deal of painful deliberation, we finally settled on the "perfect" name: RenterCenter. It was kind of catchy (i.e. it rhymed), it related to real estate, and no one was actively using it.

However, after a few weeks of calling ourselves RenterCenter….we found that the domain, while not actively used, was definitely owned, and the owner wanted a princely sum (enough to buy a house in my home town).

So to our chagrin we had to move on. (luckily....)

We started brainstorming again, and a clever woman named Mouse suggested HotPads.com. With that name she had hit on something…  We were not approaching real estate search and listing like a "RenterCenter" or an "Intellirent."  We were taking a new, innovative, and user-focused approach, and it deserved a more creative, friendly, and fitting name.  If our users finish their housing search believing that they have found a "Hot Pad," then we could not be more pleased. 

It took us a bit to warm up to it…but once it settled into our brains, we could think of no other more suitable name.

When hearing HotPads.com for the first time, people often do a double-take, but just as it happened to us, once it settles…it never escapes.

- Douglas (my brother calls me Fresh)

Hello Blogosphere . . . Greetings from HotPads

As novice blogonauts our goal in launching this blog is simple: we want to initiate a dialogue between HotPads' users and HotPads' team.  We hope to give you a better idea of our mission, plans, and thought process.  In turn we want to hear about your experience using HotPads and searching for rental housing.

In creating HotPads, we set out to make the rental housing search process easier and more enjoyable.  We hope you like what we have developed so far, but we are far from finished.  With your feedback, the sky's the limit. 

In this blog we plan to address the following topics in addition to others which arise:

1) HotPads' Features – Those that have launched and those in development

2) Real Estate Search – Where the industry is going and what other companies are doing

3) 'Web 2.0' – The buzz word you either love or hate . . . or have never heard of

4) The Start-Up Process – We are a year and a half into this project and have a lot more to learn.  Hopefully we can share some of our experiences and hopefully at least some humorous anecdotes.

Well, thanks for visiting our Blog and HotPads.com.  We will try to keep it interesting, but make no guarantees.  Please visit the site and contribute often, and encourage your friends to do the same!

- HotPads' Team